I should maybe have added that most economists agree that DT’s policies will actually make inflation and prices worse, but the thing that matters is that he made it a major issue in his campaign and people believed him
I think the massive inflation was caused primarily by both party's responses to Covid and the massive "money printing" to pay for people to stay home, business to stay closed, vaccines to be developed and handed out for free, etc. All of this costs money and they can't pay for it all with taxes, so they just borrow, in a convoluted sense, from the Federal Reserve, but flooding a system with more total money through low interest loans means everything becomes more expensive, the price of labor tends to rise last. Inflation expert Steve Hanke explains here to Jon Stewart: https://youtu.be/m4MahOuEdVw?si=MBXsA1_Jeprg1Tde
Trump doesn't have a big enough brain to understand this issue, but Elon/RFK already understand. Trump may have some sway over overall prices by lowering gas prices by opening up USA production. We will see.
Personally I don't think the offical inflation numbers from BLS to match people's personal experiences. I have calculated my groceries to buy the same list at current prices to be up an average 50 percent more, whilst identical restaurant meals are 70 percent more. And this doesn't include shrinkflation and quality reduction. BLS analysts dont even pretend to compare iitem per item but rather use behavioral substitutions like if beef is expensive people will buy pork. They also only count the price of current rents so that doesn't capture the lived perception of higher living expenses. People are stuck. They would move if they could but they can't because it's too expensive. On paper my cost of living is still the same, but to switch apartments to something similar might double the rent, so this is a lagging indicator.
Naturally lower income people are going to be more aware or this. Inflation favors the investor class. Their mortgage rate and payment stays the same (minus rising insurance/taxes) while the amount they can charge in rents goes up, as well as the amount they can borrow against their home to make further investments. Stock prices also rise to keep pace with inflation whilst the value of cash savings goes down.
I often want to yell and break things, but this has been going on since Covid. Inflation has caused hardship for so many and continues to do so. Many things have been extremely out of whack since 2020 (and before, but less noticeably).
This was very eye opening for me. I can honestly say I had NO IDEA that the economy was a major concern for voters. And I'm facing the very real possibility of having to go through bankruptcy right now. I'm really, really struggling with the economy and didn't realize that people actually thought DT would be able to "save" us from our economic struggles. Me not seeing this may have come from having several siblings in finance and hearing their convoluted conversations of what's going on with the economy.
So sorry to hear you are going through that. Whether DT will actually do anything for the economy and the working class is a totally separate discussion. Again, I think the only thing that mattered was that people believed he would do something. A lot of that is just dumb luck. Not being the incumbent. But he did also make it a bigger issues in his campaign from what I saw. Obviously there were many other factors as well.
Also worth noting that overall only 46% of women with children voted for Trump (51% voted Harris and 3% independent) versus 60% of men with children voted for Trump!
But if he plans to lower prices at the expense of the environment, I just can’t really respect that. And that’s coming from a single mom in poverty. Would rather continue to struggle than vote to destroy the earth at a faster rate. I do see what you’re saying that this is a campaign issue and I agree, but I don’t feel empathy for those who voted for him on account of money.
Yes. He will not do anything for the environment. That much is clear. But the environment is such an abstract issue for so many people. I don't think it's fair to judge them for not prioritizing it over more immediate economic and financial issues. Of course, many people in poverty did not vote for him for many valid reasons. We shouldn't flatten the diversity of opinion among "poor people." In general, I am against all of this categorical thinking (although that's how the data gets parsed). Also, I am not trying to say anyone is right or wrong. I am just trying to understand.
I should maybe have added that most economists agree that DT’s policies will actually make inflation and prices worse, but the thing that matters is that he made it a major issue in his campaign and people believed him
i think analyst Nate Silver's list on Why Trump Won is pretty good. https://open.substack.com/pub/natesilver/p/24-reasons-that-trump-could-win?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=18el3j
I think the massive inflation was caused primarily by both party's responses to Covid and the massive "money printing" to pay for people to stay home, business to stay closed, vaccines to be developed and handed out for free, etc. All of this costs money and they can't pay for it all with taxes, so they just borrow, in a convoluted sense, from the Federal Reserve, but flooding a system with more total money through low interest loans means everything becomes more expensive, the price of labor tends to rise last. Inflation expert Steve Hanke explains here to Jon Stewart: https://youtu.be/m4MahOuEdVw?si=MBXsA1_Jeprg1Tde
Trump doesn't have a big enough brain to understand this issue, but Elon/RFK already understand. Trump may have some sway over overall prices by lowering gas prices by opening up USA production. We will see.
Personally I don't think the offical inflation numbers from BLS to match people's personal experiences. I have calculated my groceries to buy the same list at current prices to be up an average 50 percent more, whilst identical restaurant meals are 70 percent more. And this doesn't include shrinkflation and quality reduction. BLS analysts dont even pretend to compare iitem per item but rather use behavioral substitutions like if beef is expensive people will buy pork. They also only count the price of current rents so that doesn't capture the lived perception of higher living expenses. People are stuck. They would move if they could but they can't because it's too expensive. On paper my cost of living is still the same, but to switch apartments to something similar might double the rent, so this is a lagging indicator.
Naturally lower income people are going to be more aware or this. Inflation favors the investor class. Their mortgage rate and payment stays the same (minus rising insurance/taxes) while the amount they can charge in rents goes up, as well as the amount they can borrow against their home to make further investments. Stock prices also rise to keep pace with inflation whilst the value of cash savings goes down.
Biden’s covid policy certainly did wonders for the stock market - that much is clear. What state are you in?
Florida now. Restaurants calculated in Florida prices, food calculated in Arizona prices (comparing 2019 to 2024).
I often want to yell and break things, but this has been going on since Covid. Inflation has caused hardship for so many and continues to do so. Many things have been extremely out of whack since 2020 (and before, but less noticeably).
Yes. Lots of people are still upset about Covid and the fallout from Covid. That much is obvious.
This was very eye opening for me. I can honestly say I had NO IDEA that the economy was a major concern for voters. And I'm facing the very real possibility of having to go through bankruptcy right now. I'm really, really struggling with the economy and didn't realize that people actually thought DT would be able to "save" us from our economic struggles. Me not seeing this may have come from having several siblings in finance and hearing their convoluted conversations of what's going on with the economy.
So sorry to hear you are going through that. Whether DT will actually do anything for the economy and the working class is a totally separate discussion. Again, I think the only thing that mattered was that people believed he would do something. A lot of that is just dumb luck. Not being the incumbent. But he did also make it a bigger issues in his campaign from what I saw. Obviously there were many other factors as well.
Also worth noting that overall only 46% of women with children voted for Trump (51% voted Harris and 3% independent) versus 60% of men with children voted for Trump!
But if he plans to lower prices at the expense of the environment, I just can’t really respect that. And that’s coming from a single mom in poverty. Would rather continue to struggle than vote to destroy the earth at a faster rate. I do see what you’re saying that this is a campaign issue and I agree, but I don’t feel empathy for those who voted for him on account of money.
Yes. He will not do anything for the environment. That much is clear. But the environment is such an abstract issue for so many people. I don't think it's fair to judge them for not prioritizing it over more immediate economic and financial issues. Of course, many people in poverty did not vote for him for many valid reasons. We shouldn't flatten the diversity of opinion among "poor people." In general, I am against all of this categorical thinking (although that's how the data gets parsed). Also, I am not trying to say anyone is right or wrong. I am just trying to understand.